Backstage Beauty Bit: Jen Kao Spring/Summer 2012

Nails that mimic the coloring of a poisonous frog are dangerously chic at Jen Kao.

At Jen Kao Spring/Summer 2012, poison gardens, Leonardo DiCaprio’s turn as Romeo Montague in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet and lucid dreams all inform the collection’s direction, but it’s the nails that draw you in. CND lead nail tech Wanda Ruiz dreams up “Lethal Love” nails, a dark-and-stormy gradation manicure that “attracts the eye with bold shades, but like a poisonous frog, has dangerous undertones.”

(Courtesy of Creative Nail Design/CND)

Though she creates the hazy diffusion by means of airbrush, she notes that you can re-create the design using CND Colours in Midnight Sapphire, Anchor Blue, Rouge Red, and Green Scene each combined with Inkwell and topped with Air Dry Top Coat while wet for a swarthy, ombré effect. —Karie L. Frost